Word of Thoth
The Word of Thoth is an ancient language which can only be read, written and spoken by a select few such as the Oracle of Siwa. History Early History Known to have been used as early as 4,500 years ago as an language used by ancient humans, the Word of Thoth was inscribed upon many important artefacts and scrolls and in ancient shrines such as the hallway walls of the first Vertex. Considering the Word of Thoth was written on the the Six Sacred Stones and the Pillars, which were apparently made by the Super-Ancient Beings for use in their second trial for humanity, it is most likely that Thoth was the Super-Ancient's own language which they would later teach to humans. Among those who learned to read and write in Thoth was the original Oracle of Siwa, and somehow this manifested as an ability that could be passed on through each of the Oracle's descendants and awaken as they matured. Some of the Oracles would teach others how to understand the Word of Thoth, such as ancient Pharaohs and Kings such as Khufu and Alexander the Great, and scholars like Callimachus. It is unknown if the spoken language of the Word of Thoth was ever taught by the Siwa Oracles to their disciples or if they were even aware of this particular ability of theirs. In the years after Alexander decided to arrange for each of the seven component pieces of the Golden Capstone to be hidden within constructs that would become known as the seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Callimachus composed a text which noted the locations of the Pieces. Callimachus wrote the text in the Word of Thoth to make it difficult for any unlearned person to uncover should they only be seeking the Capstone Pieces for selfish means. After Callimachus died, whenever one of the Wonders would fell, the Librarians would rewrite portions of the Thoth-written text to reflect the new hiding place of the Wonder and it's accompanying Piece. Meanwhile, the cannibalistic Neetha tribe moved into an ancient shrine which was to be used with the Seeing Stone of Delphi to view the Dark Sun. They could read and speak Thoth, though it is unknown if they learned it prior to their relocation or if they did so while they were settling in their new village, though if it were the latter case then they would not have learned how to speak Thoth. By the 14th century, those who had followed Callimachus's teachings about how to understand Thoth had died off, leaving the ones capable of understanding the language the Siwa Oracles. Before Seven Ancient Wonders By the 20th century, no attempts by archaeologists to translate the Word of Thoth from the various places and artefacts they excavated had succeeded, and later use of supercomputers to try and decode the language would have no better luck. Towards the end of the 20th century, various parties were preparing to locate the pieces of the Golden Capstone, and so some acquired either the original Callimachus text or the illicit copies that had been made to aid their attempts to locate the seven Wonders. Of course, being that it was written in the Word of Thoth, they first had to locate the one person who could translate it; the Oracle of Siwa. Only one individual, Mustapha Zaeed, managed to learn how to read the Word of Thoth by himself, by applying himself with patience and discipline until he became able to understand the first four dialects of Thoth. Shortly after the wife of Milo Omari, the Oracle of Siwa of the time who would die around this period, Malena Okombo, was kidnapped by Francisco del Piero and his forces, she went into labour and gave birth to a son. Jack West Jr and Max Epper would soon examine Malena's abandoned body and discover a second child still in the process of being born. With this miracle, there was not one, but two new descendants of the Siwa Oracle who could some to possess the ability to understand Thoth. Both del Piero's forces and the Coalition of Minnows would raise Alexander and Lily until they were old enough to understand Thoth so that they could locate the seven Wonders and the Capstone pieces. Around the time that Alexander and Lily turned 10, the former came to understand Thoth, though for reasons unknown, Lily apparently took another day or so to begin understanding the first verse of the Thoth-written Callimachus text. After translating the verse, the team was able to determine the location of the first Piece of the Capstone, the Colossus of Rhodes Piece, and so they headed off to the Sudan. Seven Ancient Wonders When Jack and Lily made their way into the innermost cavern of the Sudan mine, Lily began reading the Thoth text written on the pendants of the statue's necklace, finding herself momentarily thrown off by the fact that some of the symbols were written sideways. Finally she was able to read which of the pendants was the Capstone Piece and picked it up. Though the Piece was lost to the American CIEF team, the team managed to make a note of the lines of the Thoth-written text for the ritual of power and the ritual of peace. Lily was later staring absently at the Callimachus text, when she was surprised to suddenly understand the next dialect of the text, and so translated the clue it contained. Soon the team prepared their next move to recover the Alexandria Lighthouse piece from Hamilcar's Refuge. Though they again lost the Piece to the CIEF, in addition to the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Piece, Jack managed to snap photos of the ritual texts for Lily to translate later. Lily continued translating the next few verses of the Callimachus text, and she noted that the Thoth language was getting harder with each dialect, however her ability to understand it was growing just as quickly. After being forced to liberate Zaeed to gain his assistance for the difficulties they were having with the new clues, Zaeed revealed his ability to understand the first few Thoth dialects. Once they obtained the Zeus Piece, Lily translated the ritual text on the Capstone Piece. Meanwhile Wizard, though unable to understand the writing on the Artemis Piece, managed to memorise the symbols in the hope that he could copy them down and get Lily to translate it when they reunited. When the team was forced to make a move for the Hanging Gardens Piece, Lily translated the sixth verse of the Thoth text to reveal the clue. Presumably after she and Stretch were captured by Marshall Judah and the CIEF, Lily was forced to translate the ritual text on the Hanging Gardens Piece, and either she or Alexander did the same for the Great Pyramid Piece. Once the CIEF were ready for the ceremony to take place on the Great Pyramid's peak, Judah began reading out the translated Thoth incantation of power. Though the ritual failed when Alexander escaped from the Capstone's recess, Zaeed managed to read out the ritual of power successfully when he used Lily instead. The Six Sacred Stones . The Five Greatest Warriors . The Four Legendary Kingdoms . The Three Secret Cities . Attributes Already an exceptionally difficult language to even attempt to translate, the Word of Thoth has at least seven dialects which increase in difficulty to understand between each dialect. The only way to learn how to read and write the language is to be taught by someone who already knows it such as the Oracle of Siwa or someone that they in turn had already taught. Each generation of the Oracle of Siwa is born with the natural ability to understand the Word of Thoth in all of its forms. How this ability originated and is passed down through each generation of the Oracle is currently unknown, though most likely the Super-Ancient Beings may have had some hand in it. Known People who Understand the Word of Thoth *The Oracles of Siwa, who have the natural ability to understand the language in all its forms (written and spoken) and pass the ability on through the generations. **Milo Omari, Lily and Alexander's father with the natural ability to read and write the language. **Lily West, one of the two present-day descendants of the Oracle of Siwa has the natural ability to read, write and speak the language. **Alexander, the other present-day descendant of the Oracle of Siwa with the natural ability to read, write and (presumably) speak the language. **The original Oracle of Siwa **Abraham of Ur **Nefertari of Siwa **Cassandra of Troy *Callimachus of Cyrene, one of the few ancient scholars who was taught how to read and write the Word of Thoth (having apparently being taught by a Siwa Oracle or someone else). *The Neetha tribe, who members have all grown up learning how to read and even speak the Word of Thoth. **Rano **Yanis **Warano **Ono *Mustapha Zaeed, who through patience and self-discipline managed to learn how to decipher the first four dialects of the Word of Thoth in order to read it. *Max Epper, whom Lily taught some of the symbols in the Word of Thoth so that he can understand portions of it without assistance. *Diane Cassidy, who during her five years as a prisoner of the Neetha learned how to speak (and possibly read) Thoth. Trivia . Category:Seven Ancient Wonders Category:The Six Sacred Stones Category:The Five Greatest Warriors Category:The Three Secret Cities